The Five Percent Chance
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Max never expected to get what could possibly be a crush on Ladybug since he knew that there was a ninety five percent chance that Ladybug would eventually fall for Cat Noir's charms. *Written for the Breaking Your OTP Challenge by yellow 14 on his forum, The Miraculous Challenges Forum.*


It had happened as a spur of the moment kind of thing; he'd just so happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and Ladybug ended up carrying him to safety.

"The probability of this happening was one to a hundred." He muttered rather glumly; nothing like this hurt as much as his pride stung, and so when she set him down on a rooftop and promised to check on him later, he merely nodded.

Ladybug was often a force to be reckoned with, so he wasn't overly surprised by her strength and confidence with handling this, like she took care of all of this before, business as usual kind of tone. She'd been doing this long enough now that he wondered briefly if her superhero identity bled into her civilian one the way that all identities that a person takes on eventually does.

Max sat down, watching her yoyo away, and trusting Ladybug at her word though the view from up here wasn't in the least bit interesting as far as seeing the Akuma attack went, and yet the view from the rooftops was breathtaking in its own way especially since there was no chaos going on directly below though most people were inside their homes anyway.

* * *

Hours could seep away like nothing else once the first one plowed right on, and so Max wasn't overly surprised when Ladybug came back with a frenzied apology as the Akuma had taken longer to capture than both she and Cat Noir thought that it would. She sighed finally, stress and exhaustion running her body ragged, as she sat down for a moment with Max to catch the sunset by his side.

"It's so romantic." She muttered, probably imagining someone else sharing it with her, "I-I mean, not in that way. There's someone that I like anyway." Ladybug quickly tried to fix her sentence.

"I know there's a ninety five percent chance that you and Cat Noir will get together. I don't mind." Max shrugged, not overly concerned; he wasn't what you called a shipper, just a realist. Cat Noir's feelings would eventually likely slip into Ladybug's heart and join her there.

"Th-That's not who I meant." Ladybug's face flushed red, but she leaned against Max's side anyway like she was trying to hide away from the conversation against him for some reason when that only brought it much closer rather than farther away.

"I know." Max muttered, watching Ladybug's blue eyes lit up for once by the sunset, and temporarily stunned at the sight even though he never should have let it affect him.

* * *

The second time was something more than pure chance, he was a bit more curious, and so he may have deliberately waited on the sidewalk not far from the Akuma, trusting in the fifty percent chance that Ladybug would save him and not Cat Noir. His curiosity was awarded perhaps because he wasn't a cat as the saying went.

"You'll have to be more careful." This time Ladybug dropped him off a few streets over instead of on top of a building.

"I could be." Max paused as he evaluated the situation and did what he normally wouldn't and really probably shouldn't have, "So you mentioned someone before?"

Ladybug sighed, shaking her head, "Just someone in my personal life, and even then, I'm not the closest to him. I, don't always have Ladybug's confidence."  
"But, it does affect you that much." Max wondered if he shouldn't be speaking right now, shouldn't be telling her that being Ladybug seeped into her civilian life in its own way.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ladybug's face turned red before she quickly fled with a small wave, the gesture somehow didn't tell him much of a goodbye, just a sign of her embarrassment. Since he wasn't on the roof, Max set off for home which was thankfully in the opposite direction of the Akuma. He'd take the walk slowly and let his mind wander, abuzz with all of the stuff that he'd inevitably learn about her one day if his curiosity and budding, hopefully not a crush, kept going on.

* * *

The third time there wasn't an Akuma, Max had just scoped out her patrol route through the LadyBlog and pure observation and research on when Ladybug sightings were likely to happen, so he knew just when and where to be for her to pause in her patrol and check up on him, make sure he was safe.

"Max?" She likely shouldn't have known his name or remembered it, so he had a feeling that he might not have been too far away from the boy that she liked. It obviously wasn't him based off of what she'd said and implied, but it could likely be someone in his class though he tried not to get too carried away.

"Yeah, I'm here." He muttered, watching as she stepped closer to him and from the look on her face, she was either debating whether there was an Akuma present or whether Max was okay. He wouldn't say anything about that though her smile lit up across her face without meaning to when she realized that he wasn't hurt and that there wasn't an Akuma anywhere nearby.

"What are you doing here?" She stepped closer, likely so that she could lower her voice and may be avoid being spotted by whomever could be nearby.

"Just wanted to say, hello." He briefly wondered how anyone could make that casual, but by the light dusting of pink over her cheeks, she clearly liked the phrase anyway.

"I've been thinking about what you said the last time about my confidence leaking into my civilian life. I think I'll let it. I won't be found out, will I?" Ladybug spoke up softly, watching Max as if waiting for his answer as if in dire need of it.

"I'm not very well versed in how observant everyone else might be, but I doubt that they'll piece it together. It's who you are anyway." Max answered.

"O-Okay, do you think that anyone might notice me for who I am beneath the mask? Not my identity or anything like this, but do you think that they see little things about me?" Ladybug spoke up, "I just was kind of curious if there was something a bit more revealing or truthful about me when I'm suited up."

"Probably." Max smiled, "You are you, every single last part of you, even with the suit or without it." He shrugged, "I doubt that anyone wouldn't like who you are deep down anyway. You really do work hard for Paris's sake." His not quite sure if a crush hit his heart hardest at his honesty, lurching and begging to be soothed by her honesty and response.  
"Oh, what do you see in Ladybug?" She stared ahead, looking somewhat determined to figure out some kind of puzzle that someone likely had revealed its existence to her.

"A woman that's strong, but yet loves Paris so completely. Someone who's first instinct is to save people that get too close to an Akuma, and who is passionate to a fault. Whenever you're at an interview or when someone catches you doing patrol on camera, you're passionate and enthusiastic. You have a romantic side that you usually don't tell people about." Max couldn't help but observe, "What's not to like about all of that?"

"I'm emotional, and I do make my mistakes, you know." Ladybug sighed, looking somewhat lost in thought.

"It's a sign of being passionate. Besides, you can admit that you have faults and are not perfect. That's a sign of strength, and probably part of the reason that Paris respects you so much." Max looked ahead, following Ladybug's example of distraction and not minding in the least as he gave her time to reflect on his words.

"Oh," Ladybug muttered, "You're just full of surprises, thank you. I really do have to go to patrol. Cat will start wondering where I've run off too." She paused, looking like she was debating something before she leaned forward to kiss Max's cheek, "Thanks for the vote of confidence and so much more." She smiled, face red as she rushed off to rejoin her partner to finish up their patrol.

Max has never been the swooning type, but his heart felt ridiculously like it was melting; the impossibility of it doing so struck him, but he ignored it all in favor of walking back home before his parents start to worry about him.


End file.
